Lamp make over

Lamp Makeovers are fun!  A friend of mine is the yardale Queen!  She gave me this lamp a while back.  As you can see it was not very pretty.  But I could see potential!  All it takes is a little spray paint and patience.  I sprayed the lamp base with silver spraypaint and added a new drum shade.  The lamp works fine so a new lamp kit did not have to be added.  Total spent for a new lamp:  $15 new shade, $5 spray paint = lamp for $20!  We are using this in our baby boy's nursery

 

Before

 

 After!

  

Don't you like the cute little base?

Fitted crib sheet

 I've made a fitted crib sheet before and typically it's not too bad, especially when you are using a lightweight sheeting fabric.  My most recent challenge came when a client asked for 2 fitted crib sheets out of minky dot fabric.  I was concerned about the stretchiness and thickness of the fabric.  I referred to Amy Butler's "little stitches for little ones" book for instructions.  I found them very easy to follow.  I made both sheets in one evening and I think they turned out great!  I tested them in our nursery (more to come on that later).

Cupcakes for baby boy Rogerson!

More quilt photos.   Thanks to my lovely husband for his assistance.  Hope your weekend is filled with lots of fall fun.

I was motivated to make this quilt based on this contest.  The rules were pretty simple: Make a quilt that is all you! What is me?

Sewing and quilting is a part of my memory for as far back as I can remember.  My mom an avid quilter always gave me her fabric scraps to play with and I remember sitting with Cary (a lady like my grandmother) learning to sew yo-yos that she later helped me sew into a quilt.  I first learned  to hand quilt and later to machine quilt.  I wanted to incorporate both the hand stitching and machine stitching into this piece.  So the quilt was machine pieced and hand quilted using pearlized cotton thread. 

While I learned to quilt using extremely precise quilting techniques, I have learned that this is not my style.  Mama, I know you are rolling your eyes right now.  I don't like using a ruler or a rotary cutter.  Instead, I find freedom in the estimating and cutting with scissors.  As long as my seam ripper is handy it always works out in the end.  The squares in this quilt don't line up exactly...I think this lends to the beauty.  When hand quilting, I left ties showing on the back and stitched using a variety of colors: blue, teal, green, yellow and orange.

I am a firm believer in using natural materials.  The quilt is made of muslin, printed cotton, and kona cotton.  The vibrant colors in this quilt reflect my creative attitude and the cool colors reflect my laid back and easy going personality.  I used a combination of patterns and solids because there are times that I strive to be outgoing, but ultimately I am an introvert. 

Testing the quilt on our bed.  I think this will come in hand during the winter.

Do you like these lamps?  I describe how they were made here.

I used scraps of the patterns and solids as a stripe on the back. 

This is a detail on the back.  You can see the way the quilting thread changes colors.  I love the pattern this made as I stitched around the blocks and squares.

The thread colors even change on the binding.

Trying out the back of the quilt.  I think it is just as lovely as the front.

Whew What a Week!

What a week!  I spent the majority of the week at a conference at Wrightsville Beach.  We stayed at the Blockade Runner Beach Resort. 

 It's a hard life but someone's got to do it. Right?  My mind is on work overload so to relax I love to sew.  These iPad cases are some of the items I have been making and selling in my etsy shop.  Check them out!

 Isn't this picture hilarious?  These girls have been crazy because of the heat here at the beach.  We usually let them lay on our bed during the day, but lately, they have been tearing the blankets off because it is so hot.   Needless to say, we've given them the boot.  So I decided it was time to make the girls a bed of their own.  My friend gave me a random cushion.  I decided to cover it in crazy giraffe fabric with pieced green and blue squares (from a quilt I'm working on...more to come) in a stripe down the center.   You know these sassy girls need a sassy bed.  The cover velcros on and off so it can be washed easily.  I think the girls are pretty happy with the outcome.  Of course Jinx thinks she is queen of the world and doesn't want to share with Zoe girl.